{"id":6659,"date":"2010-11-30T19:57:58","date_gmt":"2010-12-01T00:57:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/?p=6659"},"modified":"2022-03-16T06:39:19","modified_gmt":"2022-03-16T11:39:19","slug":"antipodal-capital-cities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/antipodal-capital-cities\/","title":{"rendered":"Closest Antipodal National Capitals"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It’s odd that I keep getting random search engine hits on the phrase, “closest antipodal national capitals” when I’ve never covered the topic on Twelve Mile Circle. Meanwhile, several other websites have covered it rather extensively. The whole topic of antipodes in general seems to receive an inordinate amount of attention. I found a series of other useless<\/del> fascinating facts as I researched this further.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The antipode of a place on earth is its exact opposite, drawing a line straight through the middle of the earth. As a child I thought I could dig to China if I dug a hole deep enough. I got about two feet down before I gave up. Of course I learned soon enough that I would never hit China even if that were possible. Then I worried that I might dig down and flood my home with the Indian Ocean. Oh, the joys of childhood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The two national capitals closest to being antipodes are Asunci\u00f3n, Paraguay and Taipei, Taiwan. Either one is only 53 miles (86 kilometres) from the antipode of the other, as reported in a 2001 discussion on The Math Forum<\/span>. [link no loner available<\/em>].<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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My Examination<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I examined this with a rather brute-force method, a tool available on the Antipodes Map<\/a> website. I had a lot of fun generating maps like the one featured in this screen shot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Asunci\u00f3n,<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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A More Precise Examination<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The author on The Math Forum took a much more sophisticated approach. He used great circle calculations that considered Earth’s oblateness as well as more traditional antipodal calculations (i.e., based on lat\/long coordinates). Ultimately, he found little difference in the basic order of the closest antipodal capitals using either method.<\/p>\n\n\n\n